Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics plans ordinance review, schedules trainings and March proclamation

The Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics on Feb. 6 received updates from its executive director on training and planned rule changes and approved the meeting agenda by voice vote.

The executive director (name not specified) told commissioners, “In January, staff presented ethics training to the City of Riviera Beach. And then in February, we have 3 additional trainings, scheduled for Riviera Beach, and we have several upcoming outreach events.” The director said staff has been “working with county administration to open up or ask the Board of County Commissioners to open up the ordinance review committee so we can make the changes to the ordinance so it is in line with what the new legislation that was passed, last year, states.” The director added the ordinance work is expected “sometime in the second quarter of the year.”

Why it matters: updating the county’s ethics ordinance to reflect recently passed state legislation could change the county’s administrative rules and compliance requirements for county officials and staff; the commission’s outreach and training schedule is intended to communicate those changes and other ethics standards to municipal partners.

Details and next steps provided at the meeting included: - Trainings: The executive director said a training was held in January for the City of Riviera Beach and three additional Riviera Beach trainings are scheduled for February; other outreach events were also described but not dated. (Dates and locations beyond Riviera Beach were not specified.) - Ordinance review: The executive director said they are coordinating with county administration to request that the Board of County Commissioners open the county’s ordinance review committee so the commission can propose changes to bring the local ordinance into alignment with state law enacted last year. The specific statute or bill was not named at the meeting. - Proclamation: The executive director said the Board of County Commissioners will present the Commission on Ethics, the Office of Inspector General, the FAU Ethics Academy and the State Attorney’s Office with a proclamation declaring March “Ethics Awareness Month” during a March 11 event. - Internal elections: Commissioners were reminded that at the commission’s March 6 meeting the group will elect a new chair and vice chair and expected group photos might be taken that month.

Formal action at this meeting was limited to routine business: the commission approved the Feb. 6 agenda by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the meeting transcript.

The meeting was brief and largely informational. No ordinance amendments or formal referrals to the Board of County Commissioners were taken during the Feb. 6 session. The commission’s next stated business items include the March 6 officer elections and coordination of the ordinance review request to the Board of County Commissioners.